Itunes Logo

Whatever modifications the iTunes logo has gone through, it has always preserved its two main symbolic elements – notes and an oval or round shape representing an audio CD. Both of them have been present since its first version was introduced almost 20 years ago. With every modification, the emblem has been growing less realistic.

Meaning and History logo

The iTunes music service was launched in early 2001. The original logo featured quite a realistic depiction of an audio CD and three lone eighth notes. Taking into consideration that CDs were the most popular way of distributing music at the turn of the century and that iTunes were marketed as their replacement, this choice was quite natural.
Several months later, upgraded versions of the service and the iTunes 11 logo were introduced. Now, the disc was positioned at an angle, while the notes became larger.

Old logo (iTunes 2.0 and up)

When the music service moved to OS X, a new logo debuted. The three lone eighth notes were replaced by a double eighth note colored navy blue.
With each of the following releases before 2010, subtle upgrades to the logotype were introduced. The most noticeable was the way the notes changed their color. In 2002, they became purple, a year later they were colored green, then acquired a bright shade of blue in 2006. The CD itself was also slightly modified.

Symbol in 2010-2014

The release of iTunes 10.0 in 2010 coincided with the most notable redesign in the history of the iTunes logo. Due to the fact that by that time digital downloads surpassed CD in popularity, the CD on the background was removed. To make the logo consistent, its authors preserved the circular shape, which reminded of the original logo, but made it more straightforward. Now, the logo was more like an icon.
Throughout the following years, all the elements of the logo changed their colors several times, while the overall design remained the same.

The 2015 emblem

The logo, which debuted along with the new Apple Music service in July 2015, features the same shapes while introducing a different color palette. Both the notes and the outer frame became multicolored, while the area inside the circle frame grew light grey, almost white.

Font

The sleek sans serif font featured on the logo is Myriad Bold, which was developed by Carol Twombly and Robert Slimbach.

Color

With every new version of the logo, a new color palette has been introduced. So, we can’t say that the color scheme is what makes the iTunes symbols recognizable.